Matthew Cheplak
Title: Principal Engineer
Education:
M.S. Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Tech
B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida
How did you get into space?
I loved aviation and space from a very young age, probably because my dad was a fighter pilot and encouraged me to be an engineer. I really enjoyed math and science in grade school. I remember being fascinated by the Space Shuttle and how fast it needed to go into orbit (almost 5 miles per second) and all the engineering that went into that system. I always knew I wanted to be a part of a team working on an aerospace system.
Favorite planet?
Saturn
Hobbies outside of work?
Exercising, traveling, and although not a hobby, spending time with my kids 🙂
Bio:
I started my career at Orbital Sciences Corporation (before it was bought out by ATK and Northrop Grumman) where I worked as a systems engineer on the first Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite for JPL. I also supported the design of the Antares Launch Vehicle and the National Systems Group before moving on to The Aerospace Corporation, where I supported multiple National Security programs for several years on power systems modeling, systems engineering, and avionics design, build, & test. Finally, I joined SSI in July 2019 as a SETA where I am providing acquisition and multi-disciplinary space vehicle technical support to a National Security Program.
